From Niki and Rose on their March 2018 visit

We've had a great first couple of days here in Garo Hills.
Sunny's Jubilee Celebration was a lovely event. Big....about 2,000 people with
all his brothers and sisters, the current Bishop Andrew and the previous Bishop
George plus local dignitaries and Government officials. The day started with
Mass and was followed by lots of speeches, singing, dancing and a meal for
everyone there. Rose and I were pretty tired at the end of it all as we'd only
arrived at 11 the night before.

Today was a little more relaxed. A Thanksgiving Mass at 8am
after which we gave out certificates to the Tailoring students and Driving and
Motor Mechanic students who have just graduated from 5 months of training at
Bakdil. This is a training programme for young people who are school drop outs.
The rest of the morning was fairly quiet. We wandered around the complex at the
Bakdil Training Centre in the sunshine and watched a group of young boys
playing cricket using bamboo poles for cricket bats!

In the afternoon we visited Fr Mani and the Presentation
Sisters at a new parish in Babadam and also visited the Primary Health Centre
run by Bakdil on behalf of the government where Rose and I cooed over the 5
newborn babies.

Tomorrow we are attending a SHG Sale Day event in a village
called Jongdikgre and we will be accompanied by Eugene and Terak, 2 of Sunny's
staff as he is away in Calcutta for a couple of days.

We've had a great few days so far. The weather is very
pleasant and as usual we are being spoiled rotten!

Sunny's Jubilee Celebration was a very grand affair with
about 2000 people there. Lots of speeches (including one from me), dancing,
singing and food! We were very tired at the end of it all.

Today we have had a fantastic day in Jongdikgre village
where there was a SHG product sale day plus of course the obligatory speeches,
dancing, singing and food. Not forgetting of course the very sweet tea!

It was lovely just to sit and interact with the villagers,
wander around and visit their houses.

We've got a 5.30 start in the morning as we're off to
Baghmara which is 4 hours away so it's an early night for us tonight.

We will be away touring for the next 5 days visiting
Baghmara, Dalu, Zikzak and Purakasia , taking in the South Garo Hills, South
West region and West Garo Hills. We will not have internet until we return to
Tura next Tuesday evening so will be in touch then.

We're pretty exhausted now with lots of travelling, early
mornings and a fairly sleepless night in a village last night as it was so
cold. Mind you the experience brought it home to us just how difficult life in
the villages is for the Garo people....and still they smile. It is a very
humbling experience being here. Fr. Sunny and his staff have done a wonderful
job of looking after us, and I'm sure we will be coming back a few pounds
heavier with all the curries we've eaten. We're looking forward to getting home
and sharing our photos and stories with you all.